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Show 412 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF Colonel Foster had taken a very exposed position on the bough of a tree, where he was visible to all. He ordered his men to lie low and load their muskets; he waited till he saw a favorable opportunity, and then shouted, "Fire, boys, and pour it into the red and black rascals ! " A"charge with bayonets was finally ordered, and the Indians, not relishing the look of the sharp steel, retreated; however, not before they had seized a sergeant-major and a private from our line, and scalped them alive. This was the battle of 0-ke-cho-be, which lasted four hours. We lost over a hundred in killed and wounded; the enemy left nine Indians and a negro dead upon the field. Sam Jones, the half-breed, was only eight miles distant, with a force of a thousand warriors; most providentially he had been dissuaded by the negroes from advancing, who assured him that the whites would not fight on Christmas-day. It was reported that Colonel Taylor was uncontrollably angry during the battle, and that his aids and other officers had to hold him by main force to prevent him from 1ushing among the enemy, and meeting certain death. I do not know what truth there was in this, for I saw nothing of it, nor, indeed, did I see the colonel during the whole of the four hours' fighting. On the conclusion of the action Colonel Taylor wished to send dispatches to Tampa Bay. ·He requested Captain Lomax to take his company and go with them. The captain refused, for the reason that he and his men would infallibly be massacred. The colonel remarked then, "Since you are all afraid, I will go myself." He sent for me, and demanded if I could raise a sufficient num her of brave men among my mountaineers to carry dispatches to the Bay. JAMES P. BECKWOUR'l'H. 413 I answered, certainly, if I could have his favorite horse, which was the fleetest one in the w~1ole army, and such excellent bottom that he was as fi·esh afteJ: a journey as before. I considered that, if I had to run the gauntlet through a host of Seminoles and infuriated negroes, the best horse was none too good, and was, indeed, my only means of salvation. When ready to start, I applied for the dispatches. " Where are your men ?" asked the colonel. " My men are in their quarters, colonel," I said. "I am going to carry those dispatches by myself." " They must go through," he remarked, " and I want them to go well guarded." " I am not going to fight, colonel," I replied, "I am going to run ; and one man will make less noise than twenty. If I am not killed the dispatches shall arrive safe; my life is certainly worth as much to me as the charge I am intrusted with, and for personal safety I prefer going alone." In our progress out the troops had cut their way through .several hummocks, and had thrown the bushes up~ on both sides. I had to pass through some of these lanes. It was night when I started, and as I was riding through one of these excavations at a good pace, I heard a sudden noise in the brush. I saw myself in a trap, and my hair bristled up with affright. ] was greatly relieved, however, by the speedy discovery that it was only a deer I had scared, and which was scampering away at its utmost speed. I continued on, resting a short time at each fort, until I arrived in sight of Fort Brooke. As soon as I arrived within hailing distance, I shouted "Victory! victory!" which brought out officers and men, impatient to hear the news. I could not see that 0-ke-cho-be was much of a victory |